Monday, March 30, 2015

Weather . . .



. . . is the almighty equalizer.


No one can escape it.  It is non-discriminatory.  It is the basis for 78.5% of all conversation among acquaintances, co-workers and strangers (BTW 75% of all statistics are made up on the spot) and it proliferates via all media; printed, electronic or otherwise.  'Weatherman' is actually a profession (or is it Weatherperson?) which is high profile and quite respectable in spite of the lack of any performance standards with the exception of 'good hair' and snappy clothes. Some folks have even taken it upon themselves to be all-consumed with the weather and utilize it not only as conversation but as an integral task incorporated into their daily routine. Activities are planned and cancelled, tempers are affected and reputations are built or destroyed . . .


. . . well, maybe not . . .







What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html  or at
http://www.ohomusic.com 


OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak.  Please Visit http://www.ohomusic.com 


My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music will be released April 7, 2014  Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak
(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com



 PIANOGONZOLOGY - Blogged My 
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Sunday, March 29, 2015

The Calendar . . .

Calendar

Upcoming Dates

Sunday, March 29th, 2015

Bull & Oyster Roast to Benefit Ashton Dean
Benefit for Ashton Dean 1:00PM
UAW Local 239 Hall, 1010 S. Oldham Street
Baltimore, MD 21224
USA
443-567-5034
Price: $40
OHO will play a one-hour set during this annual event to benefit their special friend Ashton Dean

Saturday, May 2nd, 2015

Comedy Night at Belisimo's 7:30PM
2900 Baltimore Boulevard
Finksburg, MD - Maryland 21048
USA
410-245-0507
OHO opens Belisimo's May Comedy Night with a rocking mixture of classic OHO originals and sophisticated covers

Friday, June 12th, 2015

Wine Down Fridays 6:00PM
15113 Liberty Road
Mount Airy, MD
USA
8004142513
Price: na
OHO brings their unique, time-tested brand of pop/prog/folk/jazz-rock to the rolling hills of Mt Airy to be savored with some of the best wine in the region.  OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak.

Saturday, June 13th, 2015

OHO Live at Johnny's 9:00PM
5601 Coastal Hwy Bayside
Ocean City, MD 21842
United States
4105247499
Price: no cover

Saturday, September 12th, 2015

OHO Live at Johnny's 9:00PM
5601 Coastal Hwy Bayside
Ocean City, MD 21842
United States
4105247499
Price: no cover








Unique
© Copyright - OHO Music, BMI / Oho Music
by OHO (Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak, (work-in-progress)





What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html  or at
http://www.ohomusic.com 


OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak.  Please Visit http://www.ohomusic.com 


My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music will be released April 7, 2014  Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak
(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com



 PIANOGONZOLOGY - Blogged My 
Zimbio

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Laugh . . .

Is is me or should this man (a tower of principled jello) be laughed out of the Presidential race . . .


Five years after the Affordable Care Act became law, one of its biggest opponents says he may be signing up.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the first major candidate to enter the 2016 presidential race, is now shopping around for health coverage after his wife, Heidi, took a leave of absence from her job at Goldman Sachs to campaign with her husband. The unpaid leave does not include benefits.

"We will in all likelihood get health care through my employment, which means you end up going on to the exchange and getting health insurance," Cruz said during an appearance on the Mike Gallagher radio show Wednesday. Members of Congress without insurance are required to sign up through health care exchanges created by Obamacare because of an amendment to the law added by Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.

However, Cruz said he would not accept a subsidy members of Congress are eligible for to help pay for coverage. "I'm going to purchase health insurance with my own funds for my family, like millions of Americans," he said.

The first-term senator became the face of GOP opposition to Obamacare in 2013 when he spoke for more than 21 hours on the Senate floor in opposition to the law. He urged his GOP colleagues not accept a government funding bill that kept Obamacare intact, setting in motion a 16-day partial government shutdown.






What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html  or at
http://www.ohomusic.com 


OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak.  Please Visit http://www.ohomusic.com 


My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music will be released April 7, 2014  Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak
(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com



 PIANOGONZOLOGY - Blogged My 
Zimbio

Friday, March 27, 2015

Informed . . .


(from http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/23/news/economy/ted-cruz-economy-6-talking-points/index.html?iid=SF_E_River)
". . . 1. Cruz: We have a 'job problem': Cruz claims the economic recovery has been lackluster, especially for jobs. "We should have been focusing on jobs and economic growth and opportunity," Cruz told Fox News after President Obama's State of the Union address in January.
BUT: America just had its best year of job growth since 1999. Hiring so far in 2015 has well exceeded expectations. Economic growth last year hit its highest point since 2010.
While Europe stagnates and China slows, many economists say the U.S. economy is the bright spot on the global stage. Even the unemployment rate is down to 5.5% -- its lowest point since May 2008.

2. Americans are dropping out of the workforce: "The reason the unemployment rate keeps falling is millions of people keep dropping out of the work force altogether," Cruz told Fox.
Cruz is correct that the percent of Americans in the workforce today is at its lowest point in the past three decades, but he's muddling that statistic with unemployment.
BUT: Baby Boomers are reaching retirement age. There are about 77 million Baby Boomers -- people born between 1946 and 1964 -- in the U.S., according to the Census Bureau. That's almost a quarter of the U.S. population. The percent of Americans at work was going to drop no matter who was president right now and the trend is likely to carry over to the next president. U.S. unemployment is falling for two major reasons: Baby Boomers are retiring and millions of jobs have been added over the past few years.

3. Implement a flat tax and 'abolish the IRS': Cruz wants a flat tax system -- where all taxpayers pay the same income tax rate. He also wants to get rid of the IRS.
"Imagine a simple flat tax. ... Imagine abolishing the IRS," Cruz said Monday when he announced his candidacy at Liberty University. Many of his Republican predecessors have called for a flat tax system in past elections without any success. His plans aren't detailed enough yet to really assess what their impact would be on the economy or government revenues.
BUT: While Cruz talks about wanting to help America's most needy, there are concerns that a flat tax could hurt the poor the most. Under the current tax system, many low-income Americans don't pay much, if anything, in federal income taxes. Moving to a flat tax could mean their income taxes would rise. As for the IRS, it's unclear how Cruz would collect taxes without the agency.

4. Inequality is rising: "We're facing right now a divided America when it comes to the economy," Cruz told Fox recently. Cruz hammers home valid points about rising inequality and stagnating wages. By some calculations, inequality is at its worst point since the 1920s. The wealthy have benefited from a six-year rise in the stock market, while the working class has barely seen any increase in household income since 1995. Wages grew only 2% in February, well below the Federal Reserve's 3.5% goal. As costs rise, that 2% wage growth leaves people barely any better off, if at all.
BUT: Big box employers led by Walmart (WMT) are raising wages while other CEOs say they're competing to retain workers. There's a widely-held expectation that wage growth could pick up in 2015, since wages are usually the last thing to rebound in a recovery. Of course, even wage growth may not be enough to bridge the inequality gap. That's been expanding for decades and no president has reversed its course.

5. Build an energy economy: In perhaps his most concrete proposal at this stage, Cruz wants Congress to approve the building of the Keystone XL pipeline and allow more drilling offshore. He says that will offer Americans jobs and improve infrastructure. "A Republican Congress should immediately help Americans get more jobs by embracing America's energy renaissance," Cruz wrote in the op-ed last year.
BUT: Cruz's main plan to spur the economy and jobs right now is energy centric -- a tough strategy to pursue when energy companies are actually laying off workers. The price of oil has fallen dramatically from over $100 last summer to under $50 today. Energy companies are hurting right now. That makes it harder to justify the Keystone XL pipeline, since the world currently has too much oil.

6. Time to 'Audit the Fed': Cruz and other Republicans believe the central bank isn't transparent enough and he wants it to be audited."Enough is enough, the Federal Reserve needs to open its books -- Americans deserve a sound and stable dollar," Cruz wrote in an Op-Ed in USA Today late last year.
BUT: The Fed is already audited twice a year. The Republicans' "Audit the Fed" call is viewed by many as an attempt to meddle with monetary policy. It's unclear what a third audit would achieve.
Currencies are known to be unpredictable, but the dollar is having a pretty good ride. It has rallied for the past year against the euro and the world's other major currencies. In fact, it's at its highest level in over a decade and some people now worry dollar is actually too valuable. . ."





What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html  or at
http://www.ohomusic.com 


OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak.  Please Visit http://www.ohomusic.com 


My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music will be released April 7, 2014  Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak
(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com



 PIANOGONZOLOGY - Blogged My 
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Thursday, March 26, 2015

Tribes . . .




(from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/books/review/the-social-conquest-of-earth-by-edward-o-wilson.html)
on  ‘The Social Conquest of Earth,’ by Edward O. Wilson
". . . one can stack up log-style all humans alive today into a cube that’s about a mile on each side, easily hidden in the Grand Canyon. And all the ants on earth would fit into a cube of similar size. More important, humans and certain insects are the planet’s “eusocial” species — the only species that form communities that contain multiple generations and where, as part of a division of labor, community members sometimes perform altruistic acts for the benefit of others. . .

. . . Wilson’s own theory is far too extreme, though. He adopts a Manichaean view of evolution, in which group selection is responsible for all of our virtues (“honor, virtue and duty”), while individual selection produces nothing but sin (“selfishness, cowardice and hypocrisy”). But it’s long been known that unrelated individuals can benefit from repeated cooperation with one another, so long as there are mechanisms in place to encourage reciprocity and punish betrayal. There is now evidence — from computational modeling, observations of real-world human interactions and laboratory studies — showing that our altruistic and eusocial choices are sensitive to past interactions with individuals and that we are inclined to reward cooperators and punish cheats and free-riders. This evidence suggests that group conflict is not the sole force that has shaped human eusociality. Wilson must be familiar with this research, but doesn’t acknowledge how it complicates his account. . . "







What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html  or at
http://www.ohomusic.com 


OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak.  Please Visit http://www.ohomusic.com 


My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music will be released April 7, 2014  Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak
(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com



 PIANOGONZOLOGY - Blogged My 
Zimbio

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

All . . .

. . . of us. . .
. . . to our own degree . . .


". . . You cannot live in the world unless you can tolerate misfortune, and misfortune comes to us all; but misfortune easily runs out of control. While a simple cough is tolerable, "continual and inveterate causeth a consumption of the lungs; so doe these our Melancholy provocations." And (Robert) Burton identifies the very modern principle that everyone has a different level of tolerance for trauma, and that it is the interaction of the quantity of trauma and the level of tolerance that determines illness.  "For that which is but a flea-biting to one, causeth insufferable torment to another, & which one by his singular moderation, & well composed carriage can happily overcome, a second is no whit able to sustaine, but upon every small occasion of misconceived abuse, injurie, griefe, disgrace, losse, crosse, rumore &c yeelds so farre to passion, that his complexion is altered, his digestion hindered, his sleepe gone, his spirits obscured and his heart heavy . . . and he himselfe overcome with Melancholy . . . ". . . "
(from The Noonday Demon; An Atlas if Depression by Andrew Solomon)







What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html  or at
http://www.ohomusic.com 


OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak.  Please Visit http://www.ohomusic.com 


My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music will be released April 7, 2014  Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak
(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com



 PIANOGONZOLOGY - Blogged My 
Zimbio

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Writing . . .

 . . . to you . . . 


I am writing to introduce (if you are not familiar with us) OHO, a band that has been rocking the mid-Atlantic region (and some scattered parts of the world) for a long, long time.  Also want to inform you that we have dates available for booking and would very much like to perform for your good clientele at your outdoor events in 2015 or even indoor events this winter at _______.

Baltimore's own OHO began in the early 70s and has evolved through a number of incarnations from performance  prog rock  innovators to folk-rock, female vocalist-fronted, Fairport Convention-ish ensemble to power-due.  OHO currently performs as a trio playing new and classic OHO originals and a variety of sophisticated covers.  We are making testosterone-propelled music these days, but in the spirit of Odyssesus  strapped to the mast, we have heard the sirens seductively singing our songs and in successfully skirting their perils have survived.  Still electrically creative and emotionally charged, OHO forges onward. 

Below are hyperlinks to enable you to hear OHO, the first to a YouTube performance in Baltimore earlier this year and the second to SoundCloud for an audio sampling of songs:



Hope to hear from you.







What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html  or at
http://www.ohomusic.com 


OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak.  Please Visit http://www.ohomusic.com 


My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music will be released April 7, 2015  Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak
(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com



 PIANOGONZOLOGY - Blogged My 
Zimbio